Transnational Freedom Networks: A History of the American League for Puerto Rico Independence, 1944-1950

              TRANSNATIONAL FREEDOM MOVEMENTS: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN
LEAGUE FOR PUERTO RICO INDEPENDENCE, 1944-1950
A Thesis
by
MANUEL ANTONIO GRAJALES, II
Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies
of Texas A&M University-Commerce
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
August 2015 TRANSNATIONAL FREEDOM MOVEMENTS: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE FOR PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE, 1944-1950
A Thesis
by
MANUEL ANTONIO GRAJALES, II
Approved by:
Advisor: Jessica Brannon-Wranosky
Committee: William F. Kuracina
Eugene Mark Moreno
Head of Department: Judy A. Ford
Dean of the College: Salvatore Attardo
Dean of Graduate Studies: Arlene Horne iii
Copyright © 2015
Manuel Antonio Grajales IIiv
ABSTRACT
TRANSNATIONAL FREEDOM MOVEMENTS: A HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE FOR PUERTO RICO INDEPENDENCE, 1944-1950
Manuel Grajales, MA
Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2015
Advisor: Jessica Brannon-Wranosky, PhD
A meeting in 1943 between Puerto Rican nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos and a group of U.S. pacifists initiated a relationship built on shared opposition to global imperialism. The association centered on the status of Puerto Rico as a colonial possession of the United States. The nationalists argued that Puerto Rico the island’s definition as a U.S. possession violated their sovereignty and called for aggressive resistance against the United States after attempting to initiate change through the electoral process in 1930. Campos developed his brand of nationalism through collaborations with independence activists from India and Ireland while a student at Harvard. Despite the Puerto Rican nationalists’ rhetorically aggressive stance against U.S. imperialism, conversation occurred with groups of Americans who disapproved of their country’s imperial objective.
Despite differences in culture, religion, and ideology, a common transnational connection allowed these groups to establish a dialogue about the issue of imperialism. The U.S. pacifists, inspired by Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Free India movement, studied the tenants of Gandhi’s non-violent philosophy employed by the U.S. civil rights movement during the 1940s and 1950s. v
Connections to India and the pacifist community’s arguments against imperialism led to collaboration between both groups. The creation of the American League for Puerto Rico Independence in 1944 exemplified the significance of this transnational connection. From establishment in 1944 until disbandment in 1950, the purpose of this group of American citizens was to articulate complaints about colonialism to the United States government and the United Nations. The contribution of women within the organization played a significant factor, highlighted by the leadership role of ALPRI secretary Ruth Reynolds. Although the ALPRI and the NP worked to combat regional imperialism, both organizations operated as separate entities and attempted to craft the message for the cause. This thesis investigates the collaboration between the two groups and examines whose vision of independence eventually dominated the narrative.
This study relies on analysis of archival collections, including the papers of civil rights leader James Farmer and a microfilmed collection of ALPRI secretary Ruth Reynolds. In addition, other pacifist collections, FBI files, and newspaper articles were consulted.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The development and completion of this thesis would not have been possible without the support of my professors, my friends and family, and fellow graduate students. I would like to thank the professors in the Department of History at Texas A&M University-Commerce for their guidance in my professional development as an aspiring historian, as well as my personal development through my continued growth as a person. I owe a lot to the professors who advised me during the process of my thesis. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Jessica Wranosky, my advisor, for the time she invested in a project that mushroomed into something bigger. She pushed me when I needed to be pushed, assisted me in trials I faced on a professional and personal level, and gave me the tools to succeed. Dr. William Kuracina provided me with in depth conversation on the nuances of global imperialism, colonial structures, but also conversations about different facets of academia and life. Dr. Mark Moreno provided me with additional insight on Latin America that I had not considered, as well as encouragement to stay active in the field of History. I would like to acknowledge Dr. Sharon Kowalsky for her mentorship and encouragement, both when I was an undergraduate student and when I worked as her GA. Her advice and encouragement were always appreciated. I would also like to thank Dr. Robert G. Rodriguez from the Political Science Department for expanding my knowledge base of Latin America and providing me the content and knowledge I lacked. I would also like to thank the Texas A&M University-Commerce for providing me the opportunity to achieve my academic goals.
During my time in graduate school, my colleagues have been a source of encouragement and I thank them for their friendship, advice, and humor. Special thanks to Benjamin Williams, Allison Faber, and Jill Mobley for the experiences we shared, the times we acted as soundboards vii
for one another’s projects, and your friendship in general. My family is always a source of inspiration for me. They encouraged my love of history through pushing me to read at an early age. My father and maternal grandmother always pushed for me to learn my cultural history, to have an appreciation of my culture. A special thanks to my mother, for always supporting me and letting me know that she was proud of my pursuits. My brother, who always helped me unwind during tough times through sharing a meal, playing video games, or just talking about literature and history. I would like to thank my mother and father in law for their support of my endeavors and encouraging me to go as far as I can. Most importantly, I would like to thank my wife Heather. She has acted as a technical editor at times and has been my number one fan through my return to college. Even when we fell on hard times, she did not want me to quit. I thank her for her love, support, and being my wife.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... ix
ABBREVIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS ................................................................................x
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1
2. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATION, 1930-1943 ....27
3. LAUNCH OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE FOR PUERTO RICO INDEPENDENCE, 1944-1947 ....................................................................................63
4. THE FALL OF ALPRI, 1948-1950 .............................................................................99
5. AFTERWARD & CONCLUSION ..........................................................................128
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................141
VITA .........................................................................................................................................152
ix
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE
1. Chart of Interactions between Civil Rights and Independence Organizations ...............6
x
ABBREVIATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS
ACLU American Civil Liberties Union
ALPRI American League for Puerto Rico Independence, 1944-1950
APRI Americans for Puerto Rico Independence, 1953-1980s
CO Conscientious Objector
CORE Congress for Racial Equality
FALN Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional
F. B. I Federal Bureau of Investigation
FOR Fellowship of Reconciliation
MPI Movimiento Pro Independencia
NAACP National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
NP Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista de Puertorriqueña)
PPD Puerto Rican Popular Democratic Party (Partido Popular de Democrático)
PIP Puerto Rican Independence Party (Partido Independencia de Puertorriquena
UN United Nations
UPR Unionist Party (Partido Unionista de Puertorriquena)
YLP Young Lords Party
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the early twentieth century, the United States government designated Puerto Rico as a territory under a colonial government and enacted economic reforms that promoted U.S. business interests. After the U.S. acquired former Spanish colonies in North America and the Pacific at the conclusion of the Spanish American War in 1898, turmoil arose among the populace. Puerto Rico expected to gain independence in a similar arrangement to Cuba after U.S. mobilization against Spain yet was placed under U.S. colonial control, similar to the Philippines. The case of Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States highlights the tensions of a small country that anticipated independence but still required U.S. economic aid to remain solvent. As conflict over Puerto Rican independence grew, nationalist and transnational alliances formed and took sides in the growing debates. What happened during these processes shaped both the ongoing debates about the meaning of Puerto Rican independence and the lives of all those involved.
Although the Jones Act of 1917 conferred U.S. citizenship to Puerto Ricans, political and geographical restrictions within the act made the definition of residency problematic. The rise of the U.S. as an imperial power in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century led to a reaction from independence supporters within its colonial land holdings. Advocates of complete independence who rejected U.S. political and economic intrusion attempted to construct a clear nationalist vision of a liberated Puerto Rico. Yet, the imperial role of the U.S. motivated both those under colonial rule to take action and inspired select groups of U.S. activists. A burgeoning 2
community of pacifists during the twentieth century saw U.S. involvement in other countries as a detriment to global peace and an affront to the ideals of democracy.1
A meeting in a New York City hospital in 1943 between Puerto Rican nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos and a group of U.S. pacifists began a relationship between the two entities who, while ideologically different shared similar convictions about global imperialism. The pacifists were comprised of individuals from multiple protestant denominations from the northern United States who focused their energies on civil rights and the right of conscientious objection to war based on religion. A number of international movements influenced the ideologies of these U.S. peace activists, most especially that of Mohandas K. Gandhi (aka Mahatma Gandhi) and the Free India movement. Gandhi’s philosophy led to the study of non-violent civil disobedience by American pacifists, specifically the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). The introduction of Gandhian non-violent protest into pacifist circles saw the establishment of groups that studied the dynamics of Christian civil disobedience, including an organization formed by protestant missionaries Jay Holmes Smith and Ralph Templin called the Harlem Ashram.2
1 The Jones Act of 1917 was a reform of the 1900 Foraker Act, which designated Puerto Ricans as U.S. Nationals, not cititizens. The Jones Act conferred legal citizenship for Puerto Ricans and the reorganization of the island’s political structure, yet did not allow the people to vote for the President of the U.S. From 1898 until 1948, the head of Puerto Rico was a governor chosen by the U.S. president, not the electorate of Puerto Rico. For more on the Jones Act, see Arturo Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1983), 191-211; Jose A. Cabranes, “Citizenship and the American Empire: Notes on the Legislative History of the United States Citizenship of Puerto Ricans,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 127, no. 2, (Dec., 1978), 391-491. For studies that discuss the United States as an Imperial power, see Ramón Bosque-Pérez and José Javier Colon Morera, Puerto Rico Under Colonial Rule: Political Persecution and the Quest for Human Rights (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2006); Cesar J. Ayala and Rafael Bernabé, Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2007); José Trías Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 1997); Ruth Reynolds, Campus in Bondage: A 1948 Microcosm of Puerto Rico in Bondage (New York, NY: Hunter College/CUNY, 1989); Julian Go, “Chains of Empire, Projects of State: Political Education and U.S. Colonial Rule in the Philippines and Puerto Rico,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 42, no.2, (April 2000).
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The members of the Harlem Ashram who met with Campos in 1944 were part of an interconnected pacifist and civil rights movement. The U.S. pacifist community’s origins began with the founding of the FOR and later initiated the establishment of smaller groups focused social or economic justice in the 1940s. The most prominent of these activist communities was the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), founded in 1942 by FOR members Bayard Rustin and James Farmer to train members in civil disobedience to combat racial injustice. During this meeting, Campos commended the pacifists for their work to date within New York for the Puerto Rican people. He then challenged them to voice their displeasure about the effects of regional imperialism by supporting Puerto Rican independence. This challenge was answered with the creation of the American League for Puerto Rico Independence (ALPRI) in 1944 in Harlem, New York.3
From 1944 until 1950, the organization persistently demanded Puerto Rico’s independence through an organized legal strategy and non-violent demonstrations. ALPRI members advocated for independence during U.S. Congressional sessions and petitioned the newly formed UN to investigate Puerto Rico’s status to the United States. They also attempted to educate the U.S. public on the issue of U.S. colonialism through pamphlets and open forum discussions in the New York area. A few members, specifically Ruth Reynolds, travelled to Puerto Rico to gain an understanding of the issues of Puerto Rico and why independence was a necessary option compared to statehood. After the attempted assassination of U.S. President Harry Truman and a series of violent uprisings in Puerto Rico in November 1950 perpetrated by
2 In numerous texts relating to Pedro Albizu Campos by historians, Puerto Rican nationalists, and American pacifists, mentions of Don Pedro Albizu Campos after stating his full name appear as “Albizu” or “Albizu Campos.” For this project, he will be referred to as “Campos.”
3 Joseph Kip Kosek, Acts of Conscience: Christian Nonviolence and Modern American Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). 4
Puerto Rican nationalists, members of ALPRI chose to disband in November of 1950. Although the organizations goal was to assist in the independence of Puerto Rico, it did not want to be associated with violent actions.4
Communication between Campos’s Puerto Rican Nationalist Party (NP) and U.S. pacifist-based civil rights groups during the 1940s and 1950s illustrates a relationship among these diverse movements that has not been discussed until recently. Previous scholarship situates the relationship between nationalist Puerto Ricans and the United States as confrontational or undefined. Interconnections between these groups, despite divisions in ideology, culture, and religion, counter the sharp divide between Latin American groups and Americans that defines the traditional view of U.S./Latin American relations. Although tensions existed, both entities created a transnational network within the U.S. and Puerto Rico that also had connections as far as Europe and South Asia. The importance of transnational freedom networks highlights the establishment of communities of global advocates of various social movements coming together to potentially collaborate. By studying the extended reach of and links between these twentieth century transnational civil rights and anti-imperial networks, historians gain a more comprehensive understanding of the development of broader activist communities for social justice. Furthermore, examination of these networks provides new insights into the cultural and ideological tensions that caused dissension in twentieth century liberal reform movements. Not all activists interested in certain reforms came to ALPRI with the same backgrounds or expectations, and the differences could cause rifts.5
4 Associated Press, “Freedom League Disbands,” November 8, 1950, New York Times. There are a number of documents prior to 1947 where Jean Wiley Zwickel is mentioned by her maiden name “Wiley.” For this project, she will be referred to as Jean Wiley Zwickel. Jean Wiley Zwickel, Voices of Independence: In the Spirit of Valor and Sacrifice (Pittsburg, CA, White Star Press, 1988).
5 Puerto Rican Nationalist Party or Partido Nacionalista de Puertorriqueña, hereafter referred to as NP. 5
This study focuses on FOR in the U.S. and the NP in Puerto Rico, two separate activist entities that discussed potential collaboration to promote a message of anti-imperialism within the Western Hemisphere. Ideological partnership by Puerto Rican and U.S. anti-colonial activists to establish a transnational human rights network led to the creation of the ALPRI, a U.S. organization that supported Puerto Rican independence. The models of public demonstration, protest, and education to promote the message of an independent Puerto Rico in the 1940s and 1950s present a broader illustration of twentieth century human rights activism. Although ALPRI collaborated with the NP, it worked as a separate U.S. reform organization that attempted to tailor its vision of activism to its Puerto Rican allies. ALPRI and the NP, though connected for the cause of Puerto Rican independence, struggled to emerge as the voice that crafted the goals of the larger movement.
At the time of this thesis’ completion, a book-length study did not exist of the American League for Puerto Rico Independence or connection between the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and the U.S. pacifist community. The contributions of the ALPRI have been discussed recently through the study of member Ruth Reynolds. Her assistance to the cause of Puerto Rican independence and her incarceration have been documented in studies of the Cold War surveillance and women’s activism in the 1940s and 1950s. Religious and civil rights historians have dedicated monographs and articles to the contributions of FOR and CORE to global human rights. Members of FOR and CORE have provided input on the workings of the organizations, specifically in the autobiographies of founding members. Focus on the Harlem Ashram, one of the FOR’s training cooperatives, receives only brief mention in the source material. Although ALPRI and Harlem Ashram founder J. Holmes Smith are mentioned in the discussion of the formation of the ashram, a full-length study of the active members of the organization is sparse. 6
Figure 1. Interactions between Civil Rights and Independence Movements.6
6 Figure 1 was designed by the author to provide a visual of the connection between these various organizations. The information contained in this chart was attained from the following sources. For information on the Fellowship of Reconciliation, see Paul Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community: A Journey with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Telford, PA: Cascadia Publishing House, 2005), 91-103; James Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart: The Autobiography of a Civil Rights Worker (New York, NY, Arbor House, 1985), 70; “Resume of Ruth Reynolds,” folder 5, box 1, Personal and Biographical Information, Personal Documents, Ruth Mary Reynolds Papers, (Center of Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, New York, NY, microfilm) [hereafter cited Reynolds Papers]. Kosek, Acts of Conscience, 26-27, 81-88, 146-147, 168, 178-183, 185-187; Conrad J. Lynn, There is a Fountain: The Autobiography of a Civil Rights Lawyer (Stanford, CT, Lawrence Hill and Company, 1979), 108-109; Vijay Prashad, “Waiting for the Black Gandhi,”. From Toussaint to Tupac: The Black International since the Age of Revolution, ed. by Michael O. West, William G. Martin and Fanon Che Wilkins (Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 189-191; For information on the Free India Movement, see Federico Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary (New York, Plus Ultra Educational Publishers, 1971), 22; Kosek, Acts of Conscience, 81-88; Zwickel, Voices of Independence, 128; Manuel Maldonado-Denis, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation (New York, NY, Random House, 1972), 118; For information on Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico, see Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos, 32-34; Lynn, There is a Fountain, 124-140; Zwickel, Voices of Independence, 128; Juan Angel Silen, We, The Puerto Rican People: A Story of Oppression and Resistance (New 7
An autobiographical monograph by ALPRI member Ruth Reynolds illustrates the interconnection between the pacifists and nationalists. Reynolds’s Campus in Bondage chronicles her time in Puerto Rico from 1948 to 1950, when she investigated the student protests at the University of Puerto Rico. Reynolds’s personal account does not delve into a history of ALPRI. Instead, she discusses her interactions with nationalist leaders and her role in recording the events at the University of Puerto Rico in a light different from that appearing in the U.S. press of the era. A book by ALPRI member Jean Wiley Zwickel focused on the people who fought for Puerto Rican Independence. In this work, Zwickel recalled her personal interaction with Campos and mentions his challenge to her, Reynolds, and Smith to take a stand for Puerto Rican independence. She also dedicated the last profile to her friend Reynolds, providing a brief
York, NY, Monthly Review Press, 1971), 60-66; Maldonado-Denis, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation, 118; For information on Campos’s and the Free Ireland movement, see Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 221; Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos, 22; Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, “Jaime Balmes Redux: Catholicism as Civilization in the Political Philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos,” in Bridging the Atlantic Toward a Reassessment of Iberian and Latin American Cultural Ties, ed. by Marina Perez de Mendola (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1996), 137-147; For information on the Congress for Racial Equality, see Farmer, 104-106; Kosek, Acts of Conscience, 186-189; Prashad, “Waiting for the Black Gandhi,” 190-191; For information on the Harlem Ashram, see Outline of Ruth Mary Reynolds’ Life, 1937 to Present, [hereafter referred to as Outline of Reynolds’ Life], “Biographical Materials, 1940s-83,” folder 1, box 1, Reynolds Papers; Kosek, Acts of Conscience, 186; Farmer, 149-152, 169; Lynn, There is a Fountain, 86, 90; Zwickel, Voices of Independence, 127-128; Krishnalal Jethalal Shridharani, My India, My America (Garden City, NY, Halcyon House, 1943), 304, 344; Prashad, “Waiting for the Black Gandhi,” 190-191; For information on the Nineteenth century Cuban Revolutionary movement’s connection to Puerto Rico, see José Martí, Our America, ed. by Philip S. Foner (New York, NY, Monthly Review Press, 1977), 281-282, 299-301, 349, 359; For Pan-American Outreach, see Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 222-223; Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos, 34-38; Margaret Power, “The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Transnational Latin American Solidarity, and the United States during the Cold War,” in Human Rights and Transnational Solidarity in Cold War Latin America, ed. by Jessica Stites Mor (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), 21-47; For information on the American League for Puerto Rico Independence, see Andrea Friedman, Citizenship in Cold War America: The National Security States and The Possibilities of Dissent (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 2014); Lynn, There is a Fountain, 126, 128; Outline of Reynolds’s Life, Reynolds Papers; Maldonado-Denis, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation, 117-119; “Freedom League Disbands, New York Times, November 08, 1950; U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Information Concerning (Omitted Word),” under “James Farmer Biography, March 3, 1969,” 78-80. http://vault.fbi.gov/james-farmer/james-farmer-part-6-of-7/at_download/file (Accessed 01/30/2013).
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and personal biography of the woman who would be revered by later nationalists for her conviction during the Puerto Rican independence movement.7
A book that displays the link between the pacifists and the Puerto Rican Nationalists is the autobiography of civil rights lawyer Conrad J. Lynn. He described his ideological differences with the Harlem Ashram, though he also mentioned his strong bond with Ruth Reynolds. This friendship is highlighted during his chapter on the Puerto Rican nationalists when he indicated that he not only acted as the defense attorney for Campos after the Truman assassination attempt and the uprisings in Puerto Rico, but also defended Reynolds. Lynn’s account provided clear context about both communities and displays the interconnection between them, though he also detailed tensions within, observing that he thought the pacifists wanted to ideologically transform Campos and the nationalists. Lynn also described the conditions under which ALPRI disbanded in 1950 and the rebranding of the group as the Americans for Puerto Rico Independence in 1954 by Reynolds.8
The works of Reynolds, Zwickel, and Lynn highlight the interconnection of members of the U.S. pacifist community with NP members, specifically Campos. Reynolds and Lynn offer their perspectives of the relationship between the NP and the U.S. pacifist community by including the working relationship between both organizations and the tensions that existed. Zwickel’s work on the heroes of Puerto Rican independence presents a history of Puerto Rican independence advocates and includes her ALPRI colleague, Reynolds. As prominent figures who participated in these organizations, the information likely contains advocacy bias. Lynn’s account provides information of the ideological tension between the NP and the U.S. pacifist
7 Reynolds, Campus in Bondage; Zwickel, Voices of Independence, 3-7, 127-131.
8 Lynn, There is a Fountain, 86, 90, 123-130.
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community as he mentioned that while he respected the members in his network, he was not a proponent of pacifism.9
An article by historian Andrea Friedman on ALPRI member Ruth Reynolds highlighted the question of gender in both anti-colonialism and pacifism. A recently finished monograph, Citizenship in Cold War: The National Security States and The Possibilities of Dissent, discussed the issues of Cold War surveillance in the U.S. and dedicates a chapter of the book to the plight of the NP and the contributions of the Reynolds and ALPRI. Her concentration on the ALPRI and NP, specifically through the membership of women, provides a nuanced look at the composition of the organizations and the roles of women. Women’s participation in prominent positions within the NP and the U.S. pacifist community presents an example of the concept of bridge leadership that is discussed by sociologist Benita Roth with respect to African American women during the 1950’s civil rights movement. The women in both communities were outwardly in a subservient position to the male leadership, yet inwardly carved out their own space of leadership.10
Two articles by historian Margaret Power focus on the interconnection between Latin American groups and Puerto Rico from the 1930s to the 1950s and the conditions faced by women’s activists for both communities. In her article “The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Transnational Latin American Solidarity, and the United States during the Cold War,” she discussed how various Latin American nations provided vocal support for the NP, while also giving attention to the contributions of activists Ruth Reynolds and Thelma Mielke for their roles
9 Lynn, There is a Fountain, 86, 90, 123-130.
10 Andrea Friedman, “Ruth Reynolds and the Struggle for Puerto Rican Independence,” MaComere (The Journal of the Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars) 12, no.2 (Fall 2010): 95-103; Friedman, Citizenship in Cold War America; Benita Roth, Separate Roads to Feminism: Black, Chicana, and White Feminist Movements in America’s Second Wave (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
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with ALPRI. Another article, “Puerto Rican Women Nationalist vs. U.S. Colonialism: An Exploration of their Conditions and Struggles in Jail and Court,” discusses the abuses Reynolds and women membership of the NP faced while incarcerated and the camaraderie the women built during their confinement. She gives particular attention to Reynolds’s experiences and her relationship with the Puerto Rican women who viewed her as a compatriot in the struggle for independence.11
Freeman and Power both discuss the multiple actors within the Puerto Rican independence movement and the dangers of representing this cause during the height of the Cold War. Both historians provide a larger look at the representation of women within ALPRI, including the contributions of ALPRI member Thelma Miekle as a representative for Puerto Rican independence in the United Nations. They also discuss the work ALPRI did to expand their representation, with Power displaying strong support from Latin American countries, despite fear of U.S. reprisals. Repression against activists for Puerto Rican independence after the 1950 Nationalist Uprising is another topic that contributes to this study. Freeman provides context on how the increasing Cold War tensions acted to increase surveillance against groups considered dissident. Power’s study on the incarceration of Reynolds and ten women from the NP displayed the severity of treatment to those considered political agitators.12
11 Power, “The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Transnational Latin American Solidarity, and the United States during the Cold War,” 21-47; Margaret Power, “Puerto Rican Women Nationalist vs. U.S. Colonialism: An Exploration of their Conditions and Struggles in Jail and Court” Women’s Legal History: A Global Perspective 87, no. 2 (June 2012): 463-479.
12 Friedman, Citizenship in Cold War America; Power, “The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, Transnational Latin American Solidarity, and the United States during the Cold War,” 21-47; Margaret Power, “Puerto Rican Women Nationalist vs. U.S. Colonialism: An Exploration of their Conditions and Struggles in Jail and Court” Women’s Legal History: A Global Perspective 87, no. 2 (June 2012): 463-479.
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The members of ALPRI and the broader U.S. pacifist community were influenced by the idea of non-violent civil disobedience to promote societal change emphasized by Mohandas K. Gandhi. The method of combating social inequality with direct civic action against unjust laws intrigued U.S. pacifist organizations. Gandhi’s autobiography provided perspective of his transformation from an English-educated Indian who strove to be accepted as an equal to the British into a figure that dissented against the power structure. His recollection of the discrimination faced in South Africa caused a transformation that inspired others, in India and globally, to resist against injustice through non-violent civil disobedience.13
Manfred Steger’s monograph, Gandhi’s Dilemma: Non-Violent Principles and Nationalist Power, highlighted the tensions within Gandhi’s rise through non-violent action. Nationalist action necessitates a reaction against the power structure to an inevitable confrontation. As a bridge between Gandhi and U.S. activists, political scientist Bidyut Chakrabarty tackled the similarities in the activism of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, arguing that both were shaped politically and socially by the events of their historical moment. Chakrabarty provided analysis on the gradual acceptance by both figures to the concept of non-violent civil disobedience. Both studies provide a broader look at non-violent activism and the effects it has on individual members and mass movements. Steger’s work contends that a nationalist cause leads to an inevitable confrontation with those in power, a viewpoint visible with the NP and the U.S. government. Chakrabarty mentions that the activism of his subjects was
13 Mohandas K. Gandhi, Gandhi’s Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Washington D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1948).
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shaped by the historical moments around them. Similarly, the events of the twentieth century in the U.S. and Puerto Rico influenced the advocacy of members of the NP and the ALPRI.14
On the subject of interconnected U.S. pacifist communities, a number of monographs and articles contextualize the influences of these groups and cooperation between white and black pacifists during a period of intense segregation in the United States. Paul Dekar’s monograph, Creating the Beloved Community: A Journey with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, examined the entire history of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, dedicating sections of the work on the 1940s and the establishment of dialogue with the Free India movement. A section is also dedicated to the FOR’s use of Gandhian cooperatives to train activists in the teachings of non-violent activism, with specific attention given to the Harlem Ashram. Dekar’s study contributes to this study by presenting the foundations of U.S. pacifism toward non-violent activism and the creation of Gandhian ashrams to teach pacifists the model of Smith and Templin’s variation of satyagraha. Although Dekar provided a thorough history of FOR, there is little critical analysis of the organization and no mention of the Harlem Ashram’s connection to Puerto Rico.15
The autobiography of James L. Farmer offered sections that highlight his time with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Harlem Ashram, and his founding of CORE. He also briefly mentioned his interactions with Jay Holmes Smith and Ruth Reynolds during his time with the ashram, stating that he did not agree with the organization’s strict policies but respected his colleagues who were part of the group. A section of his autobiography that concentrated on meeting his future second wife, Lula Peterson, adds context as she belonged to CORE and was
14 Manfred Steger, Gandhi’s Dilemma: Non-Violent Principles and Nationalist Power (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000); Bidyut Chakrabarty, Confluence of Thought: Mahatma Gandhi & Martin Luther King Jr. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013).
15 Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-103.
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one of the officers who disbanded ALPRI in November 1950. Farmer’s autobiography displays the U.S. pacifist community’s experimentation and adoption of their variation of Gandhian non-violence. It also mentions the connection Farmer had with principal ALPRI members Smith and Reynolds. Despite this, Farmer does not mention U.S. pacifist efforts to support Puerto Rico’s independence.16
Articles by Vijay Prashad and Leilah Danielson focus their scholarship on the connection between American pacifists and the Free India Movement of Mahatma Gandhi. These articles present a strong explanation of the merging of Gandhian philosophy of non-violent civil disobedience with Protestant Christianity, a blending that was called “kristagraha.” The authors also explain the initial tensions within certain pacifist communities, specifically African American leaders, toward the idea of political non-violent agitation. Danielson presented a background of the pacifist community’s gradual immersion of Gandhian tactics in their activism, giving attention to peace advocates’ admiration of Gandhi and efforts to commandeer the message in their own Christian vision. Prashad’s focus, in particular, is the African American community searching for a leader that would demonstrate a united vision for social change similar to Gandhi.17
Nico Slate investigated these tensions in his monograph, as he highlights the discussions between African American civil rights advocates and the Free India movement. He spends a few pages discussing the ashram and the potential of tensions exhibited toward the idea of kristagraha. Sean Chabot expands the scope of the link between the African American
16 Farmer, Lay Bare the Heart, 149-150.
17 Leilah C. Danielson, “‘In My Extremity I Turned to Gandhi’: American Pacifists, Christianity, and Gandhian Non-Violence, 1915-1941,” Church History 72, no.2 (June 2003): 385-386; Prashad, “Waiting for the Black Gandhi,” 190.
14
community and the Free India Movement in his monograph Transnational Roots of the Civil Rights Movement: African American Exploration of the Gandhian Repertoire. He delved into the history of African American activists studying non-violent civil disobedience, giving particular focus to supporters from the 1930s and 1940s and those who eventually mentored the advocates of the 1950s civil rights movement. A major contribution by Prashad, Danielson, and Slate is the idea of kristagraha and how its concept was devised to make non-violent civil disobedience more “Christian.” Prashad, Chabot, and Slate also provide insight on the interracial U.S. pacifist community and the tensions exhibited in these organizations, specifically the appropriation of leadership positions by white pacifists in predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Although all of these studies discuss the link between the U.S. pacifist community and India, they do not mention the expanded fight against global imperialism.18
Joseph Kip Kosek’s monograph about Protestant non-violence provided a look into Jay Holmes Smith’s membership in FOR and his establishment of the ashram in Harlem with Richard Templin. The influences of Smith and Templin are important, as both would have leadership roles within ALPRI during its six years of operation. The expansion of satyagraha as a tactic to advocate for societal change in the United States was conceptualized by the contributions of men who articulated the concept for U.S. pacifists. The works of Slate, Prashad, and Kosek note the importance of Krishnalal Shridharani in the implementation of non-violent ideology in the United States. Shridharani was an Indian American sociologist who was a student of Gandhi and acted as a liaison for the American pacifists. His book, War without Violence: A Study of Gandhi’s Methods and Accomplishments, details Gandhian ideology and highlights the possibility of American pacifist groups applying these tactics. Shridharani mentions in his book’s
18 Nico Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism: The Shared Struggle for Freedom in the United States and India (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012), 203-220. 15
introduction that, contrary to the thought of others about satyagraha’s viability in the Western world, if it were adapted correctly, the methods could be effective in the United States. Kosek and Danielson also discuss the contributions of Richard Gregg, who studied satyagraha for four years in India in a Gandhian ashram and wrote a book on non-violence that became one of the influential works studied by U.S. pacifists. The idea for the ashram, the ideology of kristagraha, and the influences of the movement are key contributions of these works. Shridharani and Gregg’s influence on ashram members and the larger U.S. pacifist community is crucial to understand the ideology of ALPRI. 19
Cesar Ayala and Rafael Bernabé’s monograph Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History since 1898 discussed Puerto Rico’s history since conclusion of the Spanish American War. The work focused on the political, economic, and social dynamics of the relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S. throughout the twentieth century and provides content on the rise of the various political players, including Campos and Luis Muñoz Marín. Ayala and Bernabé give particular attention to the period of 1930 until the establishment of the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1932, providing a critique of some of Marín’s policies and a sympathetic voice to the various independence organizations of the twentieth century.20
A collection of books and articles by political scientist Manuel Maldonado-Denis provide attention to the politics of Puerto Rico during the first half of the twentieth century, as well as detailing the motivations of the nationalists. He particularly emphasizes the debate about U.S. imperialism and the tensions over the status of Puerto Rico between the NP and other political
19 Kosek, Acts of Conscience, 186-187; Prashad, “Waiting for the Black Gandhi,” 190; Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism, 203-212; Krishnalal Jethalal Shridharani, War without Violence: A Study of Gandhi’s Method and its Accomplishments (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939), 3-51, 189-220. War without Violence was to be read by those within the pacifist community in order to understand the tenants of satyagraha.
20 Ayala and Bernabé, Puerto Rico in the American Century, 102-104, 108-110, 150-170.
16
groups on the island. The rise of Luis Muñoz Marín’s Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) during the 1940s as the major political organization on the island that conceptualizes the framework for Puerto Rico’s commonwealth status is also detailed. A monograph by Puerto Rican politician José Trías Monge expanded the political and social tensions concerning Puerto Rico’s commonwealth status in Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World. He gives an in depth account of the rise of Muñoz as a political figure in the 1940s and the push for the current commonwealth through his participation as a founding member of the PPD. It is interesting to note that this monograph, written close to the end of his life, opposes the commonwealth as a continued form of colonialism.21
The works of Ayala, Maldonado-Denis, and Trías Monge provide the socio-political history of twentieth century Puerto Rico, specifically Puerto Rico under U.S. colonialism. All three authors provide insight on the politics involved on the status issue and the effects of that choice to various movements. However, they do not provide information on larger activist connections to U.S. groups that did not align with the U.S. government. Ayala contributes a broad general history of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans, including the effects of the Puerto Rican diaspora and the various independence organizations throughout the twentieth century. Although he mentions the NP’s connection to Vito Marcantonio, he does not mention the connection to the U.S. pacifist community. Maldonado-Denis and Trías Monge highlight the politics of Puerto Rico during the first half of the twentieth century and the effects of the commonwealth. Trías Monge’s monograph provides more nuance on the issue of the commonwealth, as he was a member of the PPD and contributed to the establishment of this status.
21 Manuel Maldonado-Denis, “Prospects for Latin American Nationalism: The Case of Puerto Rico,” Latin American Perspectives 3, no.3 (Summer 1976), 36-45; Maldonado-Denis, Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation, 118; Trías Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World, 104-109. 17
Articles by Anthony De Jesus and Gerald J. Meyer highlight the different motivations and influences of Pedro Albizu Campos, one of the major entities in the nationalist movement during the twentieth century. De Jesus and Meyer concentrate on Campos’s education and relationship with New York Representative Vito Marcantonio, providing a broader discussion of Campos’s associations within the United States. Meyer discusses how both men collaborated through conversations about the independence of Puerto Rico. The example of their partnership displayed a willingness by Campos to work with U.S. opponents of imperialism. De Jesus detailed Campos’s experiences as a student in Harvard, focusing on his political activity with student organizations that allowed him to make contacts with global opponents of imperialism. The author also mentioned the reaffirmation of Campos’s religious conviction while in Harvard shaping his nationalism.22
Author Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo discussed in the article, “Jaime Balmes Redux: Catholicism as Civilization in the Political Philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos,” the Puerto Rican nationalist leader’s Catholic worldview as an influence for his nationalist discourse. Campos’s focus on a religious identity for Puerto Ricans shaped his rhetoric of a unified, Catholic Puerto Rico to combat Protestant imperialism. Stevens-Arroyo also mentions the connection between Irish and Puerto Rican nationalists, noting the religious and imperial links between the two countries. Collaboration with Irish nationals is tackled by Stevens-Arroyo, who mentioned the similarities between countries regarding imperialism as a closer link than with India, as they were two small countries occupied by larger empires. Sociologist Kelvin Santiago-
22 Anthony De Jesus, “I have endeavored to seize the beautiful opportunity for learning offered here: Pedro Albizu Campos at Harvard a century ago,” Latino Studies 9, no.4 (2011); Gerald J. Meyer, “Pedro Albizu Campos, Gilberto Concepcion de Gracia, and Vito Marcantonio’s Collaboration in the Cause of Puerto Rico’s Independence,” Centro Journal 23, no.1 (Spring 2011), 88-89.
18
Valles wrote an article that delves into Campos’s role as a nationalist leader, focusing on the class, racial, and ideological tensions faced as he ascended to the presidency of the NP. Santiago-Valles’s analysis on how Campos’s political rivals attempted to discredit him based on his race is highlighted, as well as how he honed an ideology of an all-inclusive Puerto Rican nation to combat U.S. colonialism.23
A short biography of Pedro Albizu Campos by Federico Ribes Tovar presented a nationalist interpretation of the events in Puerto Rico during the twentieth century. Tovar’s biography is noteworthy because it is one of the few biographies available about the nationalist leader in English. Tovar’s biography of Campos recollected some of his early nationalist influences while he attended Harvard, though more evidence is needed to corroborate the assertions made in the book. The work also mentioned Campos’s attempts to build inter-Latin American connections regarding the cause of Puerto Rican independence, channeling José Martí and other Latin American patriots. Marisa Rosado wrote a more in depth biography of Campos in Spanish and presents documentation of Campos’s interactions with Irish nationals in the U.S. during his time in Harvard. Another publication by a colleague of Campos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, provided insight into the Puerto Rican nationalist movement during the 1930s and Campos’s involvement. Corretjer presented his interpretation of the events of the Ponce Massacre, where he gives brief detail of the composition of the Nationalists and the corruption of
23 Stevens-Arroyo, “Jaime Balmes Redux: Catholicism as Civilization in the Political Philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos,” 137-147. Discussions of Irish/Puerto Rican interaction based on migration, religion, and social connection in the United States have been researched over the last twenty years, providing a base for the relationship between two Catholic peoples occupied by a Protestant empire. For an example of Irish/Puerto Rican collaboration to tackle global imperialism, see Eileen Anderson, “Resisting Anglicization: Irish and Puerto Rican Intersections in New York in the Twentieth Century” (Ph.D. diss., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007); Kelvin Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World”: An African Spaniard as Chieftain of the Struggle against “Sugar Slavery” in Puerto Rico, 1926-1934,” Caribbean Studies 35, no.1 (January-June 2007), 109, 111-114.
19
U.S. officials in Puerto Rico concerning the shooting in Ponce and the arrest of Campos, himself, and other nationalist leaders for conspiracy.24
Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century, Latin American revolutionaries attempted to gain support from neighboring countries to combat colonialism from the governments of Spain and the United States. The push for Pan-American unity against imperialism extended into the twentieth century when the U.S. forcefully intervened in the affairs of its hemispheric neighbors. José Martí’s example of Pan-American solidarity and collaboration between Cuban and Puerto Rican patriots during the nineteenth century inspired Campos’s activism. Newspaper articles and speeches placed in Phillip S. Foner’s edition of Cuban patriot José Martí’s work Our America (Nuestra América) present early inter-Latin American connections between independence groups, a condition that continued throughout the mid twentieth century. Foner’s collection of Martí’s works highlighted the connection between Cuban and Puerto Rican groups and the expectation of creating a trans-Caribbean organization after independence. Ada Ferrar’s monograph, Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868-1898, discussed the racial tensions among independence fighters during the Cuban Revolutions of the nineteenth century. She provides context of the racial differences that
24 The assertions in the book Albizu Campos: Puerto Rican Revolutionary by Federico Ribes Tover discuss Campos’s links to Indian revolutionaries Radindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose, as well as Irish nationalist Eamon de Valera. While student newspapers from the University of Harvard can corroborate that Campos, as a member of the Cosmopolitan Club on campus, had dealings as a student representative with Tagore, his ties to Bose cannot currently be found in Harvard student papers. While there are connections between Campos and Irish nationals in the U.S., more research must be done to corroborate a tangible affiliation to Eamon de Valera. Ribes Tovar, Albizu Campos, 22, 32-34, 42-47; Juan Antonio Corretjer, Albizu Campos and the Ponce Massacre (New York: World View Publishers, 1965), 1-15; Marisa Rosado, Las Llamas de La Aurora: Acercamiento a Una Biografia de Pedro Albizu Campos, 2nd ed. (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Editora Corripio, 1998). 20
jeopardized Martí’s vision of a race-less Cuban nation, a similar circumstance faced by Campos in his role as leader of the NP.25
The selection of works focused on Campos’s life and advocacy for Puerto Rican independence provide context on his nationalist influences and outreach for support. Campos’s experiences in Harvard exposed him to other activists that fought for independence from a colonial government. He is also influenced by renowned intellectuals in Latin America, motivating him to call on other Latin American countries to support their struggle for independence. Historical collaboration among Puerto Rican and Cuban independence advocates during the late nineteenth century offered an avenue on how to build a broader Latin American solidarity. The issue of Cuban identity experienced by Cuban independence advocates during and after the War for Cuban Independence can be seen in the Puerto Rican independence struggle, as there is racial tension within the nationalist movements. Although the works concentrating on Campos for this study did not explicitly mention his connection to ALPRI, the connection to Marcantonio highlight Campos’s willingness to network with those that were opponents of imperialism.
Edward Said’s Orientalism presented a theoretical link between the colonial power structure and the colonized dissenter. This connection is visible in the narrative of U.S./Puerto Rico relations, specifically tensions over self-determination among the U.S. political representatives in Puerto Rico and the NP. Despite intensions to assist the Puerto Ricans gain independence from U.S. colonialism, there were members of the pacifist community who viewed themselves as the ideal in offering ideological assistance because the colonized people were not ready to be independent. In this framework, allies within the acceptable community are
25 Ada Ferrer. Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868-1898 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 60-80, 171-181; Martí, Our America, 208-321. 21
colonizing the agency and message of the ostracized people. Franz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth displayed the political and psychological effects of colonialism on both the conquered inhabitants of a nation and the occupiers from the lens of twentieth century French imperialism. Like Fanon, the NP advocated for direct confrontation against the imperial power in charge, the U.S., in an attempt to counter the loss of agency and control. Both authors highlight the ideological differences that are apparent in the relationship between the NP and ALPRI. Although the U.S. pacifist community and ALPRI advocate for Puerto Rican independence, the organization places the NP in a secondary role in the U.S. despite the increased repression by the U.S. government against independence supporters pushing NP members further to aggressive action.26
Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities ties into the creation of an identity through the creation of a political community. Anderson’s formula can be observed in this study through the formation of a Puerto Rican nationalist ethos in which Campos’s rhetoric was shaped by the proclamations of Puerto Rico being a sovereign nation and developing a movement that creates an inclusive national identity. The idea of establishing an expanded community is on display in the interaction between the NP and ALPRI, as they attempted to create a transnational activist network based on a common interest designed to broaden their message and support system.27
Timothy Mitchell’s work Colonizing Egypt theorized that colonizers viewed occupied areas through their own perspective. They take a panoramic vision of the possessed area and determine to morph the society according to their own perspective when the reality of the area
26 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1978), 43-44; Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, trans. by Richard Philcox (New York: Grove Press, 2004), 29-30.
27 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London, England, UK: Verso Press, 1983), 4-6, 150.
22
does not match the ideal. In the case of the relationship between the U.S. pacifist community and the NP, members of FOR did not view Puerto Rico as a colonized nation until information was provided to them from Harlem’s Puerto Rican community. U.S. pacifists’ later perception of the message and methodology of the movement and the realities of the NP’s ideology for confrontational action present the tension Mitchell discusses. If the information presented did not conform to the pacifist structure of reform, they pushed further to implement their structure. Debate over the interpretation of Puerto Rican independence is visible within the U.S. pacifist structure, as disagreement over each faction’s vision of Puerto Rico caused conflict.28
The major argument of this thesis will focus on ALPRI’s establishment and the conflict of which organization represents the message of Puerto Rican independence. Both the ALPRI and NP worked for a similar goals and cooperated to present a united effort for the cause against regional imperialism. Ideological conflicts were visible, as U.S. pacifists vehemently disagreed with the NP’s use of aggressive action against the U.S. government to implement their goal of an independent Puerto Rican nation. Through collaboration, ALPRI and U.S. pacifist community intended to influence the NP to adopt non-violent political action to achieve its objective. The broader U.S. pacifist community questioned the connection with the NP and wondered if Puerto Rico was ready for independence, a point of contention that caused conflict between FOR and ALPRI. The central struggle between the U.S. pacifist community and the NP was whose voice dominated the discussion to advocate for Puerto Rican independence.
A secondary discussion within the study focuses on women’s contributions to ALPRI and the NP as leaders and organizers. The U.S. pacifist community and the NP encouraged broad outreach within their respective communities and counted a sizable number of women as
28 Timothy Mitchell, Colonizing Egypt (Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1988), 31-33. 23
members. Despite the message of inclusivity and unity by their respective leadership, both organizations maintained traditional attitudes of gender roles. Still, the role of women activists in ALPRI and NP displayed women attaining a form of power and influence within these organizations. Although women in both groups shared the ideological tensions within the broader movement, activists like Reynolds and Lolita Lebrón worked outside of gender norms and became prominent advocates for Puerto Rican independence.
The organizational restructuring of the NP and FOR in the 1930s and 1940s and the establishment of a transnational relationship is the focus of chapter two. Although both entities were created earlier, the 1930s saw a shift in leadership and philosophy. The U.S. pacifist community was intrigued by the non-violent teachings of Gandhi to affect social change, but they were hesitant to implement them without unaltered. Continued study of India’s plight under British imperialism prompted action by the FOR to support Indian independence against colonialism. The NP’s rise as a major organization that advocated for Puerto Rican independence occurred with the rise of Campos as the president of the organization. After an attempt to attain this measure through political participation in 1932, the NP became more aggressive in its goal for complete independence from the U.S. Until 1943, both groups operated as separate entities that argued against colonialism, yet had little knowledge of one another. U.S. pacifists focused on Indian independence and were surprised that the U.S. was also an imperial participant. After discovering a common cause, both separate organizations discussed the steps needed to establish a common plan of action against regional imperialism.
ALPRI’s formation and its actions as an advocacy group for Puerto Rican independence from 1944 until 1947 is discussed in chapter three. As U.S. pacifists organized to establish a group to advocate for Puerto Rican independence, members began to discuss their vision for the 24
movement. Although there was consensus within the U.S. pacifist community against imperialism, there was disagreement about the amount of autonomy Puerto Rico should have. A split occurred among activists, and one side formed ALPRI in December 1944. ALPRI used its political space in the United States to advocate for Puerto Rico’s independence and work in cooperation with Campos and the NP. The image both groups cast of a unified campaign against imperialism displayed a potential detachment of the collaboration’s message, as both organizations still acted as separate entities. This division was exhibited in the ALPRI’s recruitment efforts, which called for prominent American activists to join and Puerto Ricans to join their own independence organizations. ALPRI endeavored to influence the NP to adopt Gandhian civil disobedience to promote Puerto Rican independence through its activism in the political realm. From 1945 to 1947, ALPRI used its platform to campaign for independence in front of the U.S. government and international governing bodies.
The last two years of the ALPRI before it disbanded in 1950 after NP inspired uprisings in Puerto Rico and women’s leadership within both groups is emphasized in chapter four. Both the ALPRI and the NP were increasingly confident by 1948 because of Campos returning to Puerto Rico and the U.S. movement continuing to push for Puerto Rican independence in the U.S. Congress and the United Nations (UN). Yet ALPRI’s goal of influencing the movement according to its message of non-violence was frustrated by continual violent outbreaks between NP members and U.S. officials in Puerto Rico. In reaction to a student demonstration at the University of Puerto Rico, ALPRI sent Ruth Reynolds to investigate the issues on the island. Until the Nationalist Uprising of 1950, Reynolds represented the ALPRI in Puerto Rico as the sole leader, defying the traditional gender division in both entities. Although she was firmly committed to the cause, her proximity to the NP and participation on the ground level of the U.S. 25
colonial issues boosted her to a prominent leadership position. As the NP became increasingly aggressive in response to attempts to repress the movement by the U.S. government, mainland U.S. pacifist became wary of the situation in Puerto Rico. Fractures occurred within the pacifist community regarding the NP’s willingness to adopt non-violence causes. Although Smith and Reynolds remained active in their support for Puerto Rico, other members of ALPRI and the larger pacifist community began to focus on advocacy in other areas of the U.S. The use of violence and fear of being implicated during the height of the Red Scare pushed ALPRI members to distance themselves from the NP. ALPRI disbanded in November 1950 after the NP’s failed attempts to take over Puerto Rico and assassinate President Harry Truman.
The existing scholarship outlines an opportunity to examine the nuances in the establishment of transnational civil rights activism, specifically where two separate advocacy groups attempted to come together for common objectives regarding Puerto Rican national rights. Despite differences in ideology, religion, and culture, leaders of these groups agreed to collaborate for specific reasons and to achieve a specific goal. Yet tensions within such collaboration highlighted tendencies by enfranchised activists to influence the message and strategy of the ostracized group, indeed to dominate the campaign for independence. In ALPRI’s position as an advocate for Puerto Rican independence, its leaders insisted that their strategy of non-violent civil disobedience was the proper form of activism. Instead of acting as collaborative allies or establishing the foundations for a common plan of action to secure Puerto Rican independence, ALPRI leaders dominated the cause for independence in the U.S., effectively suborning Puerto Rican nationalists to ALPRI leaders’ imposed vision of what the campaign ought to be. Although both organizations attempted to establish and sustain a common plan of action for Puerto Rican independence, the tension over who articulated the vision and message of 26
the movement unavoidably limited the effectiveness of the collaborative campaign. The Puerto Rican example, then, illustrates ways in which activist allies can inadvertently transform themselves into advocates whereby they appropriate the cause on behalf of those they intend to liberate. 27
Chapter 2
ESTABLISHMENT OF TRANSNATIONAL COMMUNICATION, 1930-1943
The origins of the various pacifist communities in the United States and the Partido Nacionalista de Puertorriqueña (NP) that later collaborated to form an intellectual organization to advocate for Puerto Rico’s independence, predates the 1930s. The founding of the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) represented a major organization in the United States that championed the message of Christian peace and love as a rejection of war in the post-World War I era. Groups like FOR later broadened their message of peace to promote economic and racial equality during the early twentieth century. Puerto Rican nationalists can trace their roots as a reaction to Spanish colonial dominance during the nineteenth century, a response emphasized by nationalists’ demonstrations in 1868 in the town of Lares. The entrance of the United States as a new colonial power after the Spanish-American War of 1898 led nationalists to continue their involvement for an autonomous Puerto Rico. Separately, both the American pacifist community and the NP struggled to design ideological structures to promote their respective goals.29
U.S. pacifists, through groups including FOR, advocated for global peace as an alternative to war and they advanced racial justice through collaboration with early twentieth century African American activists. FOR promoted an organizational guideline that concentrated on the goals of Christian peace and unity for all, but it had not developed a strategy yet to affect social change in the United States. Similarly, the NP presented a message advocating for Puerto Rico’s independence, yet struggled to execute its objectives and dealt with internal social divisions. Transferal of the organizational methodologies during this decade established a
29 The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party will be referred to hereafter by the abbreviation of NP (Partido Nacionalista de Puertorriqueña). Olga Jimenez-Wagenheim, Puerto Rico’s Revolt for Independence: El Grito de Lares (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishing, 1993). 28
direction for the leaderships of the U.S. peace movement and advocates of Puerto Rican independence to follow moving forward. A meeting between these two ideologically different entities in the 1940s led to further discussions about the establishment of a common plan of action to combat U.S. imperialism.30
The 1930s represented a shift in the leadership and political strategy of the NP, facilitated by the rise of Pedro Albizu Campos to the presidency of the group in 1930. The composition of the party’s leadership prior to Campos’s elevation consisted of castoffs from the Partido Unionista (UPR), a pro-independence group supported by the white hacendado class of businessmen and intellectuals during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Although the former leadership advocated for an independent Puerto Rico, their dependency on the U.S. colonial structure to maintain economic control did not permit them to advocate for more aggressive activity toward self-determination. Puerto Rican nationalist member Juan Antonio Corretjer stated in a pamphlet that Campos’s ascension as leader of the NP pushed the group toward a revolutionary front that would campaign against the imperialist control of the United States. Campos’s transformation of the NP’s appeal and message placed the 1930s as the high point in Puerto Rico’s fight for independence against colonialism.31
30 Patricia Appelbaum, Kingdom to Commune (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2009), 1-10; Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-94; Sean Chabot, Transnational Roots of the Civil Rights Movement: African American Exploration of the Gandhian Repertoire (Maryland: Lexington Books, 2012), 85-88; Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 235-238.
31 The terms hacendado and criollo in this thesis define the Puerto Rican political and business elite of the early twentieth century. Hacendados reflected the land and production owners of the major exports of Puerto Rico (coffee & sugar). Sociologist Kelvin Santiago-Valles used the term criollo to define the class of political and business elites within the early twentieth century independence movements. Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 109, 111-114. For more information on the background of the hacendados in Puerto Rico, see Leslie Bethell, The Cambridge History of Latin America (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 263-287. For discussion of the hacienda and hacendado during Spanish colonialism in the Americas, see James Lockhart and Susan B. Schwartz, Early Latin America: A History of Colonial Spanish America and Brazil (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983). Corretjer, Campos and the Ponce Massacre, 7-9; Manuel
29
The professional classes that joined the NP after the split from the UPR observed that the addition of the United States into Puerto Rico’s economy caused a negative transformation. Political scientist Manuel Maldonado-Denis mentioned that the composition of the islands economy was primarily agrarian with multiple industries available to export goods under Spain prior to 1898. The radical shift that accompanied U.S. control changed the island’s economy to a producer of sugar cane in two decades. The effect of these alterations to Puerto Rico’s economy based on the U.S. colonial structure financially crippled small business owners and workers in the tobacco and coffee industries. The implementation of U.S. political and business structures displaced hacendado landowners and merchants from power and pushed them to support independence. The early NP advocated for an autonomous Puerto Rico free of the economic and social barriers created by U.S. control and any other foreign intervention. Despite the proclamation of a liberated nation, leadership did not take a proactive stance against the United States with an organizational plan or the intent of a broader social composition.32
Campos’s rise to leadership positioned the NP as the pro-independence organization openly willing to defy U.S. colonial rule instead of capitulating or collaborating. His nationalist vision projected a militant, pro-Catholic, anti-imperialist message and a willingness to fight for the people of Puerto Rico. Structurally, the NP conformed to other forms of twentieth century nationalism that were stridently anti-imperialist. The implementation of a strong, conservative
Maldonado-Denis, “The Puerto Ricans: Protest or Submission?” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 382, (March 1969): 28-29.
32 Maldonado-Denis, “Prospects for Latin American Nationalism: The Case of Puerto Rico,” 38-41; Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 109, 111-114. 30
Catholic worldview can be traced to the influence of Boston area priests during Campos’s time as a student at Harvard.33
Religious scholar Anthony Stevens-Arroyo suggested that Campos’s viewpoint of a united Catholic independence movement against protestant colonial influence was inspired by the writings of nineteenth century Spanish philosopher Jaime Balmes. The unique combination of Campos’s radical anti-imperialist ideology and conservative social stance for family, religion, and nation presented a movement that interconnected the social and political currents of Puerto Rico. Although Campos’s embrace of an ideological Catholicism against Protestant oppression does not place the NP as overtly religious, it presents another means to project a nationalist message. The use of these elements established the NP’s message that U.S. incursion would not only threaten the economy but the country’s religious and societal way of life.34
The NP’s organizational ideology was crafted through Campos’s personal experiences from his education, service in the military, and standing in society. Campos’s interactions with other nationalist groups globally prior to the beginning of his presidency of the NP in 1930 enhanced his ideology through these intellectual exchanges. The influence of Irish nationalism is particularly visible after Campos became president of the NP in 1930. As a Harvard student, he was a visible advocate for Irish independence, promoting the cause on campus through discussions and demonstrations in Boston. Scholar Gerald J. Meyer considered the lessons Campos learned from his collaboration with Irish nationalists, specifically Boston chapters of Sinn Fein during his time at Harvard, unsurprising. A strong support base for Irish independence
33 Maldonado-Denis, “Prospects of Latin American Nationalism,” 39-41; De Jesus, “Albizu Campos at Harvard,” 481.
34 Stevens-Arroyo, “Jaime Balmes Redux: Catholicism as Civilization in the Political Philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos,” 137-147. 31
was established in Boston during the post-World War I period during the time Campos returned to Harvard. Both communities shared similarities being predominantly Catholic nations placed under the “yoke” of powerful imperial, protestant nations causing Sinn Fein and the NP to implement comparable tactics against their oppressors.35
The elevation of Campos as the president of the NP and the establishment of his vision for the organization caused an inevitable split with the former leadership. Campos’s economic vision worried many party members from the white hacendado class, but tensions rose over his definition of race and his advocacy of armed struggle. Similar to the earlier leadership, Campos advocated for economic reforms free from U.S. influence through the promotion of a stronger middle class and agrarian reforms, enhancing his message through language that endorsed the right for all to own even the smallest piece of land. For Campos, the idea of owning land was not just an opportunity for personal gain, but how ownership of a piece of the motherland presented to the people the knowledge of the land’s worth.36
Campos further pressed that the people were losing ownership of the land that existed previously, before U.S. encroachment. Sociologist Kelvin Santiago-Valles described how, despite the brutality of the Spanish system, the rural poor who worked in many of the plantations owned a small piece of land that allowed them to meet their basic needs. The transformation to
35 The term oppression or oppressor is defined by the NP as the U.S. imperialist government and businessmen who deny Puerto Rico their national sovereignty. De Jesus stated that Albizu Campos’s life experiences shaped his nationalist vision. He was the grandson of slaves who lived in shanty towns in his youth and was not recognized as his father’s son until his death. His academic experiences while in Vermont and Harvard as a student, as well as his stint with the U.S. Army, helped shape his nationalist and religious world view. De Jesus, “Albizu Campos at Harvard,” 483. Meyer, “Collaboration in the cause of Puerto Rico’s Independence,” 88-89; An excerpt from the Boston Globe presents evidence of Campos marching for Irish independence, as recounted from a Harvard classmate. Associated Press, “Albizu, as student, Led move for Irish Freedom,” November 3, 1950, The Boston Globe. An article by historian Damien Murray showed the Irish nationalist presence in Boston, with a section of the article displaying attempts by some Irish nationals to establish transnational communication with Indian nationalists. Damien Murray, “Ethnic Identities and Diasporic Sensibilities: Transnational Irish-American Nationalism in Boston after World War I,” Eire-Ireland 46, no. 3 and 4 (Fall/Winter 2011): 102-104, 118-123.
36 Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 111-114. 32
the U.S. economic system brought an increase in starvation in Puerto Rico, a phenomenon Santiago-Valles links to the displacement of the rural poor from the lands that produced their food during Spanish colonialism. Campos’s outreach to those displaced by the growth of the U.S. controlled sugar industry broadened the appeal of the NP. Scholar Rene Francisco Poitevin specified that Campos’s attempts to reach the masses and his connection of independence to economic justice shaped the NP into a populist movement. Despite the objection of Puerto Rican elites toward their displacement in the island’s political process, Puerto Rico’s growing dependency on U.S. economic structures impelled them to disagree with Campos’s organizational direction.37
Campos’s advocacy of a more combative organization and his definition of race heightened tensions within the party, a divide that led to the resignation of the founding party members with connections to the white land owner and business elites. Many of the criollo elites that who formed the ranks of the early NP were instilled with the class and racial differences of the former Spanish system of generational acculturation led to acceptance. To counter this ingrained philosophy, Campos conceptualized the Hispanic racial identity in broader terms than those of the elites to project a movement of open defiance against U.S. imperialism. Campos transformed a Hispanic-dominated narrative into a more diverse Puerto Rican identity, which placed those of African descent on equal terms with their white counterparts. Campos effectively
37 Sociologist Kelvin Santiago-Valles clarified that the rural poor that worked in the plantation system for the Spanish empire where not title holding land owners. Despite brutal working conditions and low wages, these rural poor still had the ability to grow what was needed to survive. Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 109-116. Maldonado-Denis, “Prospects for Latin American Nationalism: The Case of Puerto Rico,” 38-41; Rene Francisco Poitevin, “Political Surveillance, State Repression, and Class Resistance: The Puerto Rican Experience,” Social Justice 27, no.3 (2000): 91-92. 33
promoted to the people an image of a unified Puerto Rican identity that rejected the idea of racial and cultural divisions and instead one that cohesively fought against the “foreign enemies.”38
Campos’s conceptualization of a racially unified Hispanic identity was a continuation of a growing philosophical trend in anti-colonial discourse. The creation of this united cause by the NP under Campos parallels José Martí’s ideology of a race less, integrated Cuban society against Spain. Campos reconfigured the concept of race that fused Spanish historical memory into a new character that unified all within the motherland towards a nationalist purpose to preserve their cultural and religious identity from U.S. imperialism. Campos’s view of race was influenced further by Mexican philosopher José Vasconcelos’s essay La Raza Cósmica, which conceptualized a Latin American identity without the boundaries of racial separation as a critique against Anglo-Saxon racial and cultural superiority. Scholar Marilyn Grace Miller indicated that while the idea of a national Latin American racial identity was discussed by both Simon Bolivar and Martí, Vasconcelos developed the message for the early-twentieth century. In Campos’s estimation, Puerto Rico presented a blueprint of Vasconcelos’s viewpoint of a Latin American country that possessed a historical fusion of different races into one united community. Campos’s vision of a unified people faced resistance from the NP’s criollo rivals regarding his definitions of race and who should lead. Similar to the conflicts amongst Cuban insurgents in the nineteenth century, elites attempted to disparage leaders of African descent in the press as radicals or a danger to the country.39
38 Ferrer, Insurgent Cuba, 60-80, 171-181; Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 115-120.
39 Vasconcelos’s essay envisioned the establishment of an ultimate race created from the various racial strands in Latin America into a common national identity that would supersede racial difference compared to the United States. Religious scholar Nestor Medina highlighted the issues of Vasconcelos’ version of mestizaje by bringing attention of the necessity of the “best qualities” of the various races to be infused into the ideal for his vision of the cosmic race, not intermixing in a general sense. He also brought attention to Vasconcelos view of those
34
Campos’s efforts to expand the base of the movement to lower classes in Puerto Rican society through the development of a unified identity alarmed criollo leaders. As he became more influential within local leadership, the early power brokers of the NP attempted to curb his prominence through dissension based on his race. Santiago-Valles identified two instances where party leadership portrayed Campos’s race as a deterrent to the NP’s goals if he ascended to a position of power. The first attempt to restrain Campos’s influence occurred in 1926 when a leader of the NP warned Mexican author and philosopher José Vasconcelos, during a visit to meet the nationalists of Puerto Rico, of Campos’s racial identity. Although Campos was only a local level nationalist advocate, his growing influence within the movement disturbed leaders of the NP enough to attempt to disparage him in front of Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos was critical of the attempt to ridicule Campos and was complementary toward him. Santiago-Valles stated that during Vasconcelos’ visit in 1926, his scheduled presentation at the University of Puerto Rico in Ponce was cancelled, despite Ponce being a nationalist hotbed. Santiago-Valles notes that Vasconcelos remarked that the threat of his philosophy of inclusion giving hope to Afro-Puerto Ricans instigated the cancellation of the event.40
of African and indigenous descent lacking characteristics that could be improved upon through his vision of mestizaje. Miller argued that Vasconcelos’s idea of mestizaje is still centered on Western European thought, specifically Spanish exceptionalism. Campos shared Vasconcelos thoughts of Spanish and Catholic superiority to Anglo-Saxon culture, yet according to Santiago-Valles, Campos took the spiritual essences of Vasconcelos ideology to craft the Puerto Rican identity as one of unified man. José Vasconcelos, La Raza Cósmica, trans. by Didier T. Jaén, (Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1997); Nestor Medina, Mestizaje: (Re)Mapping Race, Culture, and Faith in Latina/o Catholicism (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009); Marilyn Grace Miller, Rise and Fall of the Cosmic Race: The Cult of Mestizaje in Latin America (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2004), 27-36. Martí, Our America, 208-321; Ferrer, Insurgent Cuba, 171-181; Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 221-222; Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 115-120.
40 Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World,” 115-118. Religious scholar Anthony Stevens-Arroyo provided an excerpt from Vasconcelos’s work Indología, a chronicle of his tour of Latin America in 1926, with emphasis on Vasconcelos’s experience in Puerto Rico. The section Stevens-Arroyo provided shows that Vasconcelos spoke reverently of Campos and recalled with indignation the attempt of a “pseudo-nationalist” to discredit him because of his race. Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, “The Catholic Worldview in the Political Philosophy of Pedro Albizu Campos,” U.S. Catholic Historian 20, no. 4 (Fall 2002): 53-55. Political journalist Victor Alba mentioned in his work Politics and the Labor Movement in Latin America that Vasconcelos 35
Santiago-Valles revealed a second attempt by rivals to denigrate his leadership by portraying him as a pretentious intellectual and an aspiring future dictator bent on the use of force to overtake the island. Although not explicit, the portrayal of Campos as a black man bent on dictatorial power against white political structures harkened to the image crafted by U.S. and European elites of the Haitian Revolution of 1803. The use of Haiti as a tactic to impede those of African descent from gaining influence in Latin America was similarly employed by Cuban criollo leaders against Afro-Cuban generals at the conclusion of the Cuban War of Independence. Despite these attempts by political opponents to vilify Campos, by 1930 the ideology and structure of the party to advocate for Puerto Rican independence through aggressive activism placed Campos as the symbol of the NP.41
Campos’s promotion as president of the NP saw the organization initially demand Puerto Rican independence through public demonstrations and use the ballot box to enact change. The NP verbally attacked the U.S. controlled sugar industry for the damage caused to the Puerto Rican economy and infrastructure. Campos brought the NP’s message to the people through public discourses that criticized the U.S. imperial government structure and promoted his vision of an independent Puerto Rico in preparation for the 1932 elections. The NP attempted to legitimize its cause by arguing that Puerto Rico was denied self-determination to rule that had been granted through the Autonomous Charter prior to the Spanish American War in 1898. They
attended the Brussels Congress of the League Against Imperialism in 1927. Historian Barry Carr’s article on the history of radicalism in the Americas, specifically Mexico City, disclosed that Vasconcelos advocated for Puerto Rico and Haiti during the Brussels Congress. Primary documentation of Vasconcelos advocacy for Puerto Rico can be found in his autobiographical manuscripts, stored in Nettie Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas in Austin. Victor Alba, Politics and the Labor Movement in Latin America (Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press, 1968), 126-134; Barry Carr, “Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Exiles: Mexico City in the 1920s,” Berkley Review of Latin American Studies, vol. 2, (Fall 2010), 26-30.
41 The use of Haiti as a tactic to impede those of African descent from gaining influence in Latin America was similarly employed by Cuban criollo leaders against Afro-Cuban generals during the nineteenth century, despite the activism of José Martí of a united Cuban identity. Ferrer, Insurgent Cuba, 171-178. For more on José Martí, see Martí, Our America, 208-321. 36
stated that since Spain had granted autonomy, Puerto Rico was illegally granted to the U.S. as a territory after the 1898 Treaty of Paris.42
Despite the bravado of the NP toward their cause, civil rights lawyer Conrad Lynn subsequently wrote that Campos became skeptical of the political process of the island. He increasingly viewed the elections as being manipulated by the U.S. government and business interests. Lynn also mentioned that Campos gained awareness that Puerto Rico would not be freely or peacefully granted their independence from the United States, as business and military interests dictated any push for an independent Puerto Rico would be met with barriers. Thus, Campos and the NP desired to discover a different path that would lead to independence. Regardless of the support the NP received during speaking engagements, it did not gain the backing of the people in the ballot box. Lynn remarked that a combination of Campos’s 1932 election failure to gain a seat in the Puerto Rican Congress and the realization that the U.S. would not amicably leave Puerto Rico changed him. Prior to the election, he engaged the issue of Puerto Rican independence with fiery rhetoric to inspire his supporters and positioned himself as the candidate that intended to fight the system from within. After 1932, Campos lost trust in the democratic electoral process and subsequently shaped the NP into a more revolutionary front that tailored its message to call for a struggle to reclaim their homeland through acts of violence if necessary.43
42 Autonomous Charter of Puerto Rico: Royal Decree, November 25, 1897, folder 3 box 2R596, “General Files: 1940’s-1950’s: Puerto Rico-Independence miscellany, 1945-1955,” Farmer (James Leonard Jr. and Lula Peterson) Papers (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas) [hereafter cited to as Farmer Papers].
43 Associated Press, “Porto Rican Party for Independence,” Boston Globe, September, 27, 1932; Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 221-222. Conrad Lynn represented Pedro Albizu Campos and Ruth Reynolds during their trials in the 1950s. Lynn also had connection with the early African American civil rights community during the 1940s. Lynn, There is a Fountain, 123-128. 37
After the 1932 elections, Campos and the NP became more demonstrative in its fight for Puerto Rican independence against U.S. governance. Scholar Arturo Morales Carrión stated that the years 1933 to 1935 shaped the militancy of the NP’s political and social purpose. Campos verbally attacked officials of the U.S. insular government in Puerto Rico and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and proclaimed that he was a dictator of a country that repressed the Puerto Rican nation’s independence. In 1932, Campos obtained letters that belonged to pathologist Cornelius Packard Rhodes and accused the U.S. government and Rhodes of attempts to exterminate the people of Puerto Rico through medical experimentation. Although Rhodes spun the letters as a joke between colleagues, author Susan Lederer observed that the NP viewed his quips of medical extermination through germ warfare and sterilization as a U.S. plot to subjugate and endanger the Puerto Rican people.44
In addition to the political rhetoric against the U.S. government, the NP attempted to build its movement by maintaining its connection with the workers. In 1934, Campos used his platform as legal counsel of sugar cane workers who organized strikes to bring attention to the economic injustice of the U.S. owned sugar corporations. He attacked the effects of U.S. business practices on the island’s economy by bringing attention to the rising poverty throughout the island. Campos also linked the U.S. sugar industry to the plantation system of Spain and U.S. South of the nineteenth century. He blamed the U.S. sugar industry for the gradual displacement
44 The insular government of Puerto Rico was the structured government established under the U.S. War Department’s Bureau of Insular Affairs from 1898 to 1934. After 1934, Puerto Rico’s jurisdiction was changed from the War Department to the Department of the Interior’s Division of Insular Territories. For a discussion of this, see Ayala and Bernabé, Puerto Rico in the American Century, 102-104, 108-110; José Trías Monge provided a strong narrative of the structures of Puerto Rico’s colonial government from his experiences as a politician and statesmen in Puerto Rico beginning in 1940 as a member of the PPD. Trías Monge, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World, 67-69, 80. 89-90. Campos’s rhetoric went so far as to proclaim Roosevelt a dictator and Morales Carrión notes that the NP proclaimed during Roosevelt’s 1934 visit to Puerto Rico persona non grata. Information on the incident involving Campos and Dr. Rhodes can be found in Susan E. Lederer, “’Porto Ricochet’: Joking about Germs, Cancer, and Race Extermination in the 1930s,” American Literature History 14, no. 4 (Winter 2002): 720-723; Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 233-234. 38
of the small farmers, who could no longer grow their own food to survive. Despite the small size of the NP, the volume of Campos’s rhetoric and the aggressiveness of the organization increased tensions with the U.S. government.45
Disputes between the NP and the U.S. insular government reached a high point from 1935 through 1937, highlighted by the assassination of Francis E. Riggs, police chief of the colonial government, by two young nationalists. After the death of three nationalists by U.S. officials at a demonstration in Ponce, Campos called for revenge against the police and the U.S. appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Blanton Winship. The consequence of this call for vengeance led two young nationalists, Hiram Rosado and Elias Beauchamp, to kill Riggs. Although there was condemnation against the NP by U.S. officials and Puerto Ricans for the death of Riggs, Puerto Rican citizens were also critical of the denial of due process and swift executions of the assassins, Beauchamp and Rosado. On the other hand, the death of Riggs angered many in the United States and led to attempted measures by politicians to impose a route to independence that would punitively punish the entire island instead of those associated with the nationalists.46
Riggs’s assassination brought the NP to the attention of the U.S. government, leading officials to gather information against Campos for his advocacy of revenge against Riggs. His stance against the government and the assassins’ affiliation to the NP led to the arrest of Campos and eight other leaders of the NP in 1936 on the charge of conspiracy to overthrow the U.S.
45 Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 233-235; Santiago-Valles, “Our Race Today [is] the only hope for the World”, 115-124.
46 A gun battle between the nationalists and the police occurred outside the University of Puerto Rico in 1935. Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 233-241. The most noteworthy political measure was the Tydings bill in 1936. Senator Millard Tydings had written the legislation for gradual implementation of independence for the Philippines. Tydings close ties to Winship and Riggs led to him promoting a bill that would enact a swifter path to independence while crippling the economic structures of the country. Intervention of Luis Muñoz Marín kept this bill from passing. For more information on the Tydings Bill, see Frank Otto Gatell, “Independence Rejected: Puerto Rico and the Tydings Bill of 1936,” The Hispanic American Historical Review 38, no. 1 (February 1958): 25-44. 39
established government in Puerto Rico. Morales Carrión detailed that U.S. government officials pushed for a swift trial to indict the nationalist leaders using the early Federal Bureau of Investigation (F. B. I.) to find links that tied Campos to the firearms used by the assassins. Campos represented himself and his fellow nationalists during the first trial, which ended in a hung jury. Not content with this outcome, U.S. officials organized a second trial that led to the imprisonment of Campos and eight NP leaders in the United States. Historian Frank Otto Gatell mentioned that U.S. officials were ecstatic at the result of the trial and were confident that the incarceration of the nationalists, particularly Campos, would restore peace to the island. Instead, the hostility between the U.S. government and NP grew, and led to more societal disruptions in Puerto Rico.47
The incarceration of Campos garnered strong backlash among NP members, who viewed the judicial process as tainted based on the methods used by the U.S. insular government. Random acts of violence against U.S. officials and demonstrations against the colonial government followed the imprisonment of the NP leadership, highlighted by a protest in the town of Ponce on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937. Local NP leaders in the town had initially gained permission from the mayor of Ponce to demonstrate for nationalist martyrs and the imprisonment of their leaders on the anniversary of the day slavery was abolished on the island. The request for an organized march was rescinded under the order of Governor Blanton Winship to the mayor of Ponce, which was done the day of/before the march without granting the organizers the right to appeal or rearrange the procession. Nationalist member Juan Antonio
47 Boston Globe, Associated Press, “G-Men Investigate Puerto Rican Plots,” Feb, 25, 1936, “Porto Rican Plot Convictions Upheld,” Feb. 20, 1937. Morales Carrión mentioned that the first trial, composed of seven Puerto Ricans and five Americans, ended in a hung jury, while during the second trial the composition of the jury changed to ten Americans and two Puerto Ricans. The author also detailed the lengths the government went to push for a guilty verdict, pushing the U.S. attorney of Puerto Rico to prosecute without strong evidence. Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 233-241. 40
Corretjer specified that the insular police converged on the planned parade route in Ponce a few days prior to the order to rescind the marchers’ permit.48
On the afternoon of the march, shots were fired by the insular police into the crowd, resulting in the death of nineteen members of the NP with another two hundred wounded. As news of the incident reached the United States, sympathizers to the NP including House of Representatives member Vito Marcantonio, called for a full investigation of the incident. Although Winship’s administration attempted to state that the NP illegally gathered in Ponce, were armed with weapons, and fired first, photographic and eye witness evidence presented to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) investigator Arthur Garfield Hays showed differently. Instead, the insular police strategically surrounded the parade area prior and were heavily armed. The Hays commission strongly stated that the insular police had brutally violated the civil rights of the parade marchers and murdered them, but still strongly emphasized the fanaticism of the NP. While the ACLU report and pressure from Marcantonio led to the dismissal of Blanton Winship as Governor of Puerto Rico for his role in the massacre and repeated civil rights abuses, it did not affect the prison terms given to Campos or the nationalist prisoners in 1937.49
48 Michael Gonzalez-Cruz, “The U.S. Invasion of Puerto Rico: Occupation and Resistance to the Colonial State, 1898 to Present,” Latin American Perspectives 25, no. 5 (Sept. 1998): 13-14; Corretjer and Meyer state that it was discovered during the investigation of the incident that women and children were part of the procession and the mayor of Ponce assured Police officials that the protesters were unarmed. Corretjer also noted that acting NP president Julio Pinto-Gandia, was in Ponce. Corretjer, Campos and the Ponce Massacre, 6-9; Meyer, “Collaboration in the cause of Puerto Rico’s Independence,” 96-97.
49 Meyer and the Hays report note that a woman and a seven year old girl had been among the fatalities. The number of wounded fluctuates between a hundred and twenty and two hundred. Morales Carrión noted that Winship’s handling of the NP, the investigation of the Ponce massacre and an assassination attempt by the NP in 1938 led to his being replaced by Roosevelt. Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico, and Arthur Garfield Hays. Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Civil Rights in Puerto Rico, May 22, 1937. New York: <http://www.llmcdigital.org/default.aspx?redir=08149>; Meyer, “Collaboration in the cause of Puerto Rico’s Independence”, 97-109; Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 238-241. 41
Despite the emergence of the NP as the vanguard of Puerto Rican independence, its militancy and the sturdy response by the U.S. government to repress advocates of independence or violence against the colonial administration placed it outside of mainstream political discussions. Campos’s aggressive nationalist platform of noncompliance with the U.S. authority catered to a deeply devoted following, yet disallowed collaboration with other political groups that projected a more moderate tone in Puerto Rico. Although Campos had created a structure that placed the NP as a united nationalist entity, dissention in ideology was evident throughout the 1930s. Swift response by the U.S. government toward the NP caused a number of sympathizers to question the productivity of violent confrontation and contemplate an arrangement that fused cultural autonomy with a political landscape that maintained U.S. involvement.
Campos’s nationalism borrowed from various socio-political activism of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Interaction with global independence leaders from Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America provided him a framework to contextualize a distinctly Puerto Rican nationalist cause that emphasized a united Puerto Rican nation over other differences. Yet the slow progress and U.S. repression of the NP led other members to wonder if an adoption of a developed Marxist movement advocating for social and economic change in Puerto Rico could have strengthened the appeal and longevity of the NP’s message. Nationalist member Juan Antonio Corretjer argued that Campos’s organization was crippled without an established Marxist ideology and the majority of the Puerto Rican middle class had been compromised by the U.S. to allow a bourgeois uprising to manifest. As the 1930s ended, the viability of the NP as 42
a voice for Puerto Rican independence necessitated a collaborative expansion with other sympathetic organizations.50
Concurrently, the goal of U.S. pacifist communities during the 1930s was a post-World War I period of peace with a global rejection of war using the democratic process. Scholar Leilah Danielson stated that the early twentieth century progressive movement and the social gospel reform ideology shaped the pacifist community’s conviction that their objectives could be achieved through the ballot box. The leadership of the FOR viewed the U.S. political process as a sound form of government only corrupted by certain politicians who could be voted out of office and replaced with those who supported new international measures that did not rely on war or armed conflict. Directors of the U.S. peace movement reasoned that the inherent good of the U.S. citizenry would allow the ethos of a Christian peace and rejection of war to triumph through electoral participation of the American people. FOR and other compatible organizations spent the 1920s and 1930s attempting to spread their message through the use of the ballot box, petitions, and methods of voter education to act as a barrier to the declaration of war.51
The issue of U.S. imperialism became an extension to the push for a pacifistic society through Christian love. Territorial acquisitions of the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries entered the United States
50 Corretjer, the NP solicitor general in the 1930s and later member of the Puerto Rico Communist Party and Socialist League, noted in his work on the Ponce Massacre that while he agreed with Campos on his core principals, an adoption of Marxist ideology of social and economic justice might have strengthened the movement for Puerto Rico Independence. Corretjer’s sympathies with Marxism led to his expulsion from the NP in 1944. Morales Carrión, Puerto Rico, 233-241; Corretjer, Campos and the Ponce Massacre, 6-9. For more on Corretjer’s history, see U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “COINTELPRO: Puerto Rican Groups, Section 2 (87-130), “CAMPOS EXPELLED HIM BECAUSE OF COMMUNISM, 12-14. Duany argued that Luis Muñoz Marín crafted a “cultural nationalism” to act as a bridge between those that wished to have a cultural autonomy while also maintain relations with the United States. Jorge Duany, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 122-136; Juan Manuel Carrión, Two Variants of Caribbean Nationalism: Marcus Garvey and Pedro Albizu Campos,” Centro Journal 27, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 27-45.
51 Danielson, “In my extremity, I turned to Gandhi,” 362-364. 43
into the global imperial arena, strengthening its position as an emerging regional power. Although groups like the Anti-Imperialist League formed in 1898 to argue against U.S. imperial ambition, there was no concentrated refutation of expansion. On the other hand, post-World War I pacifist organizations regarded imperialism as another ingredient in the spread of war and global suffering. The violent, coercive methods used by colonial governments to consolidate control within their territories did not conform to the pacifist message of peace and unity, a viewpoint justified by the role colonial expansion played in the buildup of the First World War.52
U.S. pacifists’ outreach toward African American civil rights advocates in the 1920s and 1930s highlights the idea of the promotion of societal peace through advocacy of racial justice by the organization. Early FOR activists noted that the organization’s guiding principles of Christian peace and understanding must be implemented to eliminate racial discrimination in the United States. Religious outreach by FOR toward the African American community led to a more concentrated effort to tackle race problems in the United States through peaceful initiatives and collaboration. Scholar Paul Dekar stated that in the 1920s and 1930s, FOR leadership established training methods to eradicate racial hatred after executives challenged members to pay attention to race issues in the U.S. FOR began to advocate for racial justice in the mid-1920s, with some members discussing the specific issues pertaining to the U.S. South. Outreach by pacifist groups like FOR through the promotion of racial justice and peace in the U.S. established intellectual partnerships with civil rights organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).53
52 Joseph Kip Kosek, “Richard Gregg, Mohandas Gandhi, and the Strategy of Non-violence,” The Journal of American History 91, no. 4 (Mar., 2005): 1326-1337.
53 Dekar mentioned that Edward Evans, the first executive secretary of FOR, urged Christians to pay attention to the race problem, while the second executive secretary, Paul Jones, stated that pacifism related to all facets of life. Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-96. 44
The U.S. pacifist community continued to push for global peace and a united society under a self-proclaimed “Christian morality,” yet struggled to promote their ideals among the public. The group’s commitment to racial justice and economic fairness did not conform to the majority of the nation who were either unconcerned or vehemently opposed change. The rejection of war also became a point of contention between U.S. pacifists and mainstream political advocates. During World War I, U.S. pacifists, who held moral objections to warfare, were subject to the military draft under the Selective Service Act of 1917 and were arrested for failing to register. Although military demobilization occurred after the conclusion of World War I, the idea of rejecting militarization as the U.S. grew as a regional power did not appeal to U.S. politicians. The use of military power by the U.S. to control colonial possessions or countries that were economically in debt did not follow the pacifists’ vision of a peaceful world that did not employ force or coercion to subjugate others. Members of FOR established organizations like the ACLU that were dedicated “to protect Americans’ rights and the rights of minorities of all persuasions—racial, cultural, and ideological.” Despite attempts by U.S. pacifists to promote their message through petitions and advocacy within the electoral process, they met little success. Peace organizations like FOR began to contemplate what method could be used to implement global change that conformed to their philosophy of Christian peace and justice.54
Throughout the early-twentieth century, global civil rights and pacifist leaders also took notice of the leader of a growing independence movement in India who adhered to a philosophy of fighting for change through peaceful, non-violent civil disobedience. Indian leader Mohandas
54 Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-94. Scott Merriman mentioned the precursors to the ACLU, founded by FOR member Roger Baldwin and included activists Oswald Garrison Villard and Jane Addams. These groups were organized to provide legal support for pacifists arrested for the refusal to register for the Selective Service draft during World War I. Baldwin’s experiences in jail during World War I shaped the idea for the ACLU. Scott A. Merriman, Religion and the Law in America: An Encyclopedia of Personal Belief and Public Policy, Volume 1 (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 122-124.
45
K. Gandhi, aka Mahatma Gandhi, was an English educated lawyer who struggled to be accepted as an educated Indian by British authorities. Historian Manfred Steger indicated that during Gandhi’s time living in South Africa, the Mahatma struggled with his own cultural identity before experiences with exclusion and discrimination led to a cultural and philosophical transformation to combat social injustice. Gandhi’s cultural and spiritual reawakening in South Africa during the mid-1890s assisted in his conceptualization of the idea of satyagraha, a term that expressed firmness or insistence of truth as an active force to promote the Indian struggle for societal change and independence through nonviolent direct action.55
Gandhi described the idea of non-violent direct action, or passive resistance, as a concept that had a prior history before his adoption of the term satyagraha. The essence of civil disobedience was to argue against a grievance that can be shaped into a united cause if all other avenues of discussion failed. Followers maintained the philosophy through strict adherence to discipline, peaceful civil disobedience, and a willingness to suffer and forgive their oppressors for the cause instead of physically striking back. Gandhi’s transformation into a nationalist figure after his experiences in South Africa shaped the idea that through satyagraha and the spiritual reawakening of the people, hind swaraj or “home rule,” could be attained. After he returned to India in 1914, Gandhi began to implement his philosophy of nonviolent action through his support of strikes and attempts to establish large movements of non-cooperation against British colonial officials. Demonstrations of civil disobedience led by Gandhi during the 1920s and especially in the 1930s brought international exposure to the idea of satyagraha, highlighted by Gandhi’s Salt March that openly defied the British salt monopoly in 1930. The global coverage
55 Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, 265, 275, 318-319; Steger, Gandhi’s Dilemma, 41-66. 46
of the event and specific attention given to Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent direct action gained an interested audience in the United States.56
Direct nonviolent action against British authorities in South Africa and India brought Gandhi to the attention of religious and civil rights groups in the United States, who were inspired by the powerful voice as a unifying figure for oppressed peoples. Satyagraha appealed to the African American civil rights leaders in the United States, as they viewed the philosophy of nonviolent civil disobedience as a potential tool to fight against inequality. Noted African American leaders Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois introduced their followers to Gandhi as a figure who fought against government sponsored racial oppression. Gandhi also came to the notice of members of the U.S. pacifist community, who were continually searching for a means to advocate for global peace and societal equality. Political scientist Bidyut Chakrabarty indicated that groups like FOR were impressed with the application of satyagraha and the zeal of Gandhi and his followers despite the adversity they faced from the British Empire. The insistence of justice through truth encouraged pacifists to study Gandhian satyagraha, resulting in members being captivated by his philosophy and character. Gandhi’s standing as a peace advocate who championed the downtrodden and the growing advocacy of the U.S. pacifist community establishing an ethos of social peace and tolerance enhanced the image of him as a “Christ-like” figure, despite the fact that Gandhi was Hindu.57
56 Boston Globe, Associated Press, “English Might Defied by Unarmed Army of 79 Marchers to the Sea,” March 30, 1930, “Gandhi’s 19 Commandments,” April 13, 1930. Krishnalal Shridharani wrote a systemization of satyagraha to provide his audience with various steps to implement the philosophy, with fourteen steps provided. Shridharani, War without Violence, 3-51; Chakrabarty, Confluence of Thought, 10-15.
57 W. E. B. Du Bois, “Gandhi and India,” The Crisis 23, no.5 (March 1922): 203-207. Chakrabarty mentioned that Marcus Garvey was the first to introduce his audience to Gandhi and satyagraha prior to W.E.B. Dubois and the NAACP. Chakrabarty, Confluence of Thought, 10-15.
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Although pacifist leaders initially studied Gandhi and discussed the viability of satyagraha in the U.S., American pacifist leader Richard Gregg’s fascination with the concept of direct action through non-violence inspired him to live four years in India to study under Gandhi during the mid-1920s. A pacifist labor leader who became disillusioned at the disintegration and violence associated with the labor movement in the U.S., Gregg learned of Gandhi and his philosophy of nonviolent direct action from a newspaper article. During his time in India, Gregg lived in a Gandhian ashram, witnessed the plight of the Indian people, and learned how to apply direct action through non-violence. After he returned to the United States in 1929, Gregg wrote two books that argued the viability of satyagraha as a tool to be used by labor and peace advocates. Scholar Joseph Kip Kosek indicated that Gregg’s works, specifically The Power of Nonviolence published in 1934, were influential to the U.S. pacifist community and were the first time an American conceptualized a substantial theory of nonviolent resistance.58
Pacifist admiration of Gandhi did not translate into a rapid adoption of his philosophy of strategic non-violence in the United States. Following Gandhi’s first appearance on the international stage in 1918, members of the American pacifist community saw him as a great man of philosophy and moral right who resembled “Christ’s spirit.” However, questions arose over the viability of satyagraha as a tool for social change by different sections of the American pacifist community. For example, W. E. B. Du Bois admired Gandhi as a man of color who advocated for change, yet expressed concern over the implementation of civil disobedience by African American activists to push for social equality. Despite the acknowledgement that potential success against the British could provide a blueprint for the black community, the
58 Kosek opines that The Power of Nonviolence was Gregg’s most influential work to the pacifist community and was pivotal to the development of Martin Luther King Jr.’s adoption of nonviolent civil disobedience. Bayard Rustin, a mentor of King, was a protégé of Richard Gregg. Kosek, “Richard Gregg, Mohandas Gandhi, and the Strategy of Non-violence,” 1318-1330. 48
repression of Indian activists for independence by a ruling minority would hypothetically multiply if implemented by a minority community in the United States. The fear of violent reprisals by those who wanted to maintain the status quo also brought questions of whether the philosophy of showing love and forgiveness toward your oppressor was applicable. Du Bois also stated that the eastern spiritual aspects at the core of Gandhian non-violence might confuse U.S. civil rights advocates and he doubted that the principles could generate a large following. Despite reverence toward Gandhi, conflict arose over the concepts of coercive non-violence and ideological divisions of East and West.59
Another common argument against Gandhian civil disobedience during the 1930s was that the tactics employed by Gandhi were confrontational and not a true representation of pacifism. Danielson suggested that pacifist leaders held that the coercive nature of non-violent civil activism “violated the basic tenants of American pacifism which held that true reconciliation and peace could occur only if both sides of a given dispute were free to recognize their guilt and repent for their sins.” She mentioned two members of FOR from the early 1930s, John Haynes Holmes and John Nevin Sayre, who vehemently argued that the coercive nature of Gandhian civil disobedience was not in the spirit of pacifism, despite their admiration for Gandhi as a religious figure and being his early American advocates. Pacifist leader Emily Greene Balch, an associate of Holmes and Sayre, agreed that the idea of coercive non-violence did not allow for repentance to occur because of a lack of benevolence and that civil disobedience created an atmosphere of an ultimatum, a tactic that is a method of war and would not be used against a
59 Danielson, Not by Might, 24-25; Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-98; Dennis C. Dickerson, “African American Religious Intellectuals and the Theological Foundations of the Civil Rights Movement, 1930-1955,” Church History 74, no.2 (June 2005): 221-223; Madhumita Lahiri, “World Romance: Genre, Internationalism, and W.E.B Dubois,” Callaloo 33, no. 2 (Spring 2010): 538-540, 542-547; Vinay Lal, “Gandhi’s West, the West’s Gandhi,” New Literary History 40, no. 2 (Spring 2009): 295-302; Slate, Colored Cosmopolitanism, 203-220. 49
friend. Despite the view of Mahatma Gandhi as a “Christ like” figure by the leadership, they viewed the U.S. pacifist community’s objectives as incompatible to the ethos of Gandhian civil disobedience. Gandhi’s vision of non-violent resistance was dependent on confrontation of injustice and effecting change through the disobedience of unjust laws. To groups like FOR in the early 1930s, coercive non-violence against an oppressive entity did not conform to the power of reconciliation and forgiveness.60
Theoretical objections to Gandhi’s philosophy of civil disobedience disguised theological tensions within the pacifist community in regards to the Eastern origins of Gandhi. Danielson observed that despite pacifist reverence for Gandhi as a “Christ-like” figure, there was a concentrated effort to Americanize his message to make it palatable to the American people and seldom acknowledge his religious base in Hinduism. She magnified this perception by showing examples of prominent pacifist leaders who, despite reverence for Gandhi, disparaged Hinduism and promoted the superiority of Protestantism. The repeated verbal admiration of Gandhi as a “Christ-like” figure by pacifist leaders in the first three decades of the twentieth century offers an illustration of how U.S. Christian leaders minimized Gandhi’s religious influence.61
Scholar Madhumita Lahiri referenced the example of W. E. B Du Bois’s written interactions with Gandhi and his presentation of the Indian leader to the readers of his publication The Crisis. In the article in which Gandhi was asked by Du Bois to discuss the African American community, Du Bois wrote a discourse about the Indian leader that acted as a biography to his readership. In this excerpt, Lahiri suggested that Du Bois transformed Gandhi
60 Lal, “Gandhi’s West, the West’s Gandhi,” 287-290; Danielson presented examples of times Holmes and Sayre would discourage their followers and other pacifists during the 1930s and 1940s from participating in non-violent protests by conscientious objectors and civil rights advocates. Danielson, Not by Might, 29-31.
61 Danielson showed another example of Holmes admiring Gandhi, yet having a philosophical difference. She notes Holmes comparing Hinduism to superstition. Reinhold Niebuhr, another prominent pacifist leader, proclaimed Christianity’s superiority to Eastern Buddhism and Hinduism. Danielson, Not by Might, 24-29. 50
into an image of “a colored man preaching a great gospel,” a portrait that is both Christian and American in outlook to the readers. The establishment of Mahatma Gandhi as a man of religious devotion and an activist against Anglo-Saxon power structures conveyed a relatable figure for Du Bois’s audience. The audience of The Crisis could sympathize with Gandhi through this imagery without acknowledging his religious base in Hinduism. Different pacifist groups exalted Gandhi as a great man who captured the essence of Christian thought, yet minimized the Eastern religious influence that formed the philosophical basis of the strategy of his non-violent civil disobedience.62
Despite U.S. pacifists’ stance against global imperialism during the first three decades of the twentieth century, certain leaders doubted the capacity of colonized people to rule their own affairs. The continued marginalization of the East in spite of Gandhi’s prominence as a respected figure displays a cultural and religious superiority by Western figures toward the East. Danielson highlights the contrast of a number of pacifist leaders who continued to argue for the end of imperial structures and doubted the ability of those colonized to govern their own affairs without western insight. Some pacifist writers discussed the necessity of India and other Asian countries determined to gain their independence to strive for the civilization, proactive spirit, and protestant Christian religion practiced in the U.S. and Europe. Although there was an acknowledgement by these writers that certain elements of eastern religion or culture could be useful in western settings, they argued that it was the influence of these western reformers that had reawakened the eastern peoples to conceptualize self-determination.63
62 Lahiri, “World Romance: Genre, Internationalism, and W. E. B Du Bois,” 537-538.
63 Said, Orientalism, 2-3; One of Danielson’s examples that displayed the contradictions in the pacifists’ anti-imperialist stance were two separate discussions in the pacifist periodical The World Tomorrow. The first, from 1927, discusses the difference in opinion over Filipino self-rule, with the negative stating the inferiority of the
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Gandhi’s viewpoint of global harmony interconnected with U.S. pacifist conceptions of Christian peace and forgiveness. His philosophy of affecting social change through the application of civil disobedience influenced some pacifist activists including Richard Gregg. However, differences based on perceptions of western cultural and religious superiority by certain pacifist leaders presented challenges to the adoption of Gandhian tactics. Though celebrating Gandhi as a figure of peace, pacifist leaders questioned whether non-violent public demonstrations could be accomplished without a component that would make it palatable to Americans and the Christian peace movement. A few activists continued to study Gandhi’s methods and attempted to implement his strategies to tackle economic, political, and social injustice in the U.S. They appropriated the message of Gandhian non-violence by removing the Hindu influences of satyagraha and creating a frame work that, though inspired by Gandhi, was constructed by the pacifists. However, major organizations like FOR continued to employ the idea of civil disobedience as an intriguing discussion point instead of a tool to promote societal change.64
The 1930s was a time of transition for both the NP and U.S. pacifists groups. Organizationally, the NP changed internally and promoted the cause for a liberated and united Puerto Rico through aggressive activism. The message of the NP found a receptive audience during speaking engagements to young college students and disaffected workers, but did not translate into electoral votes or a strong base of support. The imprisonment of Campos and other prominent leaders during the events of 1935-1937 in Puerto Rico brought the question of
Filipino people. The second, from 1930, casts doubt on the ability of India to rule their affairs. Danielson, Not by Night, 24-28.
64 Dickerson, “African American Intellectuals,” 219-221; Lal, “Gandhi’s West, the West’s Gandhi,” 295-298; Mitchell, Colonizing Egypt, 31-33. 52
whether aggressive activism would achieve the NP’s goals. For U.S. pacifist groups, the discussion of how tactically to promote racial justice and global peace initiatives with regard to employing Gandhi’s strategic non-violent civil disobedience was the transition point. For Gandhian philosophy to be accepted as a method to impact social change, one of the major pacifist organizations had to determine that this tactic was the course to follow.
International pacifist groups’ goal of securing global peace was put to the test with the beginning of World War II in 1939. The neutrality of the United States during the first two years of the war left American peace advocates hopeful that their nation would avoid participation in the conflict. Throughout the late 1930s, more pacifists and civil rights activist learned and experimented with acts of civil disobedience to argue for peace, racial equality, and labor. After much internal discussion and disagreement, adoption of Gandhi’s non-violent activism by a major organization within the U.S. pacifist community occurred in 1940. The elevation of A. J. Muste as executive secretary of the FOR and the addition of members inspired by Gandhi led to increased interest in the implementation of non-violent protest within the organization. A mixture of experienced missionaries and young college students, including activists and eventual civil rights icons Bayard Rustin, Jay Holmes Smith and James Farmer, established methods to promote peace and fight economic and racial injustice. The activism and influence of Smith and Farmer toward satyagraha subsequently had positive effects toward the direction the U.S. pacifist community adopted during the 1940s. Rustin’s development in non-violence led to his involvement in the civil rights Movement of the 1950s and the passage of his knowledge to his protégé, Martin Luther King, Jr.65
65 Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 91-95.
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The works of Richard Gregg on the potential of non-violent civil disobedience in the United States encouraged the members of FOR that it was possible to adopt and implement this philosophy. The books he wrote chronicling his experiences with Gandhi and understanding of satyagraha became standard reading for pacifist members. Concurrent to the adoption of Gandhian non-violence by FOR and other pacifist organizations, another figure provided a written blueprint on how to implement this strategy in the United States. The contributions of Indian writer Krishnalal Shridharani are important to the shift in tactics by FOR in advocating for global peace and racial equality. Shridharani became a follower of Gandhi through his studies at the Gujarat Vidyapith in 1929, a university founded in Ahmedabad by Gandhi in 1920 to teach enrollees how to conduct social change through Gandhian ideals. He participated in a number of demonstrations against British rule, including the Salt March of 1930, before moving to the United States in 1934 to continue his education at Columbia University.66
During his time in the United States, Shridharani met U.S. pacifists who supported Indian independence and were intrigued by Gandhi as a social figure. Similar to Gregg, Shridharani contextualized what satyagraha was to a western audience with his 1939 monograph, War without Violence: A Study of Gandhi’s Methods and its Accomplishments. In the book, Shridharani reiterated the philosophy of strategic civil disobedience and the victories gained by Gandhi and his followers in India. He also noted that U.S. pacifists’ could implement satyagraha to counter social and economic inequalities if they evolved their tactics. Dekar mentioned that Shridharani viewed the U.S. pacifists’ ideal of Gandhi as skewed, since they focused more on the
66 Dekar, Creating the Beloved Community, 94-96; Sean Scalmer, Gandhi in the West: The Mahatma and the Rise of Radical Protest (Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 98-100, 113. Aside from his education as an activist, Shridharani was a writer of children’s literature and a playwright. He moved to the United States in 1934 to study journalism, and later sociology, at Columbia. Sandhya Rajendra Shukla, India Abroad: Diasporic Cultures of Postwar American and England (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ